Eyelet.



No. 645,493. Patented Mar. l3, I900. L. A. ROBERTS.

EYELET.

(Application filed May 24, 1899.)

(No Model.)

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LEWIS A. ROBERTS, or OARBgONDALE, PENNSYLVANIA.

'EYELET.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 645,493 dated March 13, 1900. Application filed May 24, 1899. serial No. 718,046. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEWIS A. ROBERTS, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Oarbondale, in the county of Lackawanna and State of Pennsylvania, haveinvented cer tain new and useful Improvements in Eyelets; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

This invention relates to improvements in eyelets for shoes such as are designed to be held on the foot of the wearer by means of a lacing which connects the edges of the upper along the front opening; and it has for one of its objects to provide a structure in which a very wide flat lacing may be employed without danger of loosening the eyelets in the material of the shoe or straining the material, so as to render the same unsightly. Further objects are to prevent the lacing from becoming rolled, creased, or stringy in use, thus, where desired, permitting the use of a flat elastic lace which will yield uniformly to accommodate the movements of the foot.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a shoe embodying my present improvements. Fig. 2 is a similar View on the line 2 2, Fig. 1, looking down. Fig. 3 is perspective view of one of the lacing-eyelets before its application to the shoe.

Like letters of reference in the several fig ures indicate the same parts.

The letter A indicates the shoe-upper, B the sole and heel, and O the lacing-opening, extending down through the upper to the front portion of the vamp, these parts being all of the usual or any preferred type or style.

Heretofore it has been common to employ lacing for drawing together the edges of the upper along the front opening, and where eye lets passing through the upper have been employed they have been round or relatively wide in proportion to their length, the result being that where wide ribbon-like lacing was employedsuoh lacing where it passed through the eyelets was reduced in width or crushed into an irregular string-like form, not only retarding the slip of the lacing through the eyelets, but marring the appearance of the shoe. Furthermore, where oval 0r elongated eyelets were employed it was found that the material of the upper on the side of the eyelet away from the edge of the upper would pull away from the center of the eyelet, thereby loosening the latter and presenting an un sightly appearance. To overcome these difficulties, I now provide the eyelets with apertures which approximate in area and shape the cross-sectional area and shape of the ribbon-like lacing, and centrally of the length of the eyelets I extend a toothed arm out transversely a sufficient distance to secure a firm hold in the body of the material constituting the shoe-upper.

The letter B indicates the relatively'long and narrow eyelets, having flanges b confining the edges of the material of the upper around the eyelet and having arms or pro jections 0 extending transversely from ap proximately the center of the flange on the long sides, with penetrating teeth or points on the ends of the arms, which teeth or points are pressed through the material of the upper and clenched on the inner side, as shown in Fig. 2.

The retaining-arms h, it is obvious, are nec= essarily employed on one side only of the eyelets-i. a, that side from which the material is liable to pull awaybut for the sake of symmetry and to afford additional strength they may be on both sides, as-shown in Fig. 3. The lacing is, as shown, preferably a flat elastic D of a size which will fill the openings in the eyelets, so as to prevent the entry of dust, dirt, 850., and one end is secured at the lower end of the lacing-opening, the free end being held in any suitable manner, as by a clasp G.

Relatively few eyelets, it will be noted, are necessary, thus the full benefit of the elastic is secured, and in use the wearer in many instances need not loosen the upper end of the elastic at all, and where it is necessary to loosen it the end need not be withdrawn through the eyelets or clasp, a slight loosening being sufficient to allow the lacing, which is smooth and free from wrinkles, to slide easily through the eyelets until the tension is relieved sufficiently to allow the foot to be with drawn or slipped into the shoe.

Having thus described my invention, what I I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters tively long and narrow having a flange around Patent of the United States, is its upper edge, and an arm or projection ex- 1. In a lacing-eyelet for shoes, made relatending out transversely from approximately tivelylong and narrow havinga flange around the center of the flange on the long sides said 5 its upper edge, and an arm or projection eX- arms or projections being provided at the ends I 5 tending out transversely from approximately with penetrating teeth or points.'

the center of the flange on one of the long LEWIS A. ROBERTS. sides, said arm or projection being provided WVitnesses: at its end with a penetrating tooth or point. E. J. NEARY,

1o 2. In a lacing-eyelet for shoes, made rela- LOUIS GRAMAR. 

